April 26, 2007

Monumental Symbolism

An old Baltic joke that helps explain the differences of peoples is how each country got rid of their Lenin statue upon independence. Lithuania gathered en mass and beat it to a pulp. Latvia formed a committee and after much machination dismantled it. Estonia called a Finnish crane company on a mobile phone and had it hauled away quickly.

Now we are back to the same old story, but with Russian minority riots and great bear posturing. The Estonian government decided to relocate the Bronze Soldier memorial, to Soviet soldiers who died fighting the Nazis at a time when Estonia was independent, from outside the national library in downtown Tallinn. The internationalpress is all over it, friends and colleagues are a little scared, and Pravda has their version of the news.

Practically, this was a nationalist fuck-up. It didn't have to happen right before a Soviet holiday (yes, they still celebrate those, great way to tease out former soldiers and zealots living on the poverty line), and Russia has no problems causing a stink about it and calling Estonians Nazi zealots. The Estonian government's reaction has been to tighten local security and stop selling booze after 2pm. Hopefully both sides will sober up before this escalates.

Comments

Monumental Symbolism

An old Baltic joke that helps explain the differences of peoples is how each country got rid of their Lenin statue upon independence. Lithuania gathered en mass and beat it to a pulp. Latvia formed a committee and after much machination dismantled it. Estonia called a Finnish crane company on a mobile phone and had it hauled away quickly.

Now we are back to the same old story, but with Russian minority riots and great bear posturing. The Estonian government decided to relocate the Bronze Soldier memorial, to Soviet soldiers who died fighting the Nazis at a time when Estonia was independent, from outside the national library in downtown Tallinn. The internationalpress is all over it, friends and colleagues are a little scared, and Pravda has their version of the news.

Practically, this was a nationalist fuck-up. It didn't have to happen right before a Soviet holiday (yes, they still celebrate those, great way to tease out former soldiers and zealots living on the poverty line), and Russia has no problems causing a stink about it and calling Estonians Nazi zealots. The Estonian government's reaction has been to tighten local security and stop selling booze after 2pm. Hopefully both sides will sober up before this escalates.